Anna in Kingdom Land V2
by clam theif
Summary: Anna was a normal girl, who just happened to be sucked into Kingdom Hearts, where something new is occuring. Just why is Anna there, why is she needed, and what is these deal with Gatekeepers and the Organization? NEW AND IMPROVED! V.2!
1. Lunch Lines and RPGS

Anna in Kingdom Land-The Un-Mary-Sued Version

YES! Anna in Kingdom Land is back, but I'm back with an edit! I'm working on trying to make this one just as good as the old one, but now, with less Mary-Sued trans fat! I'm trying to make Anna more likable to the more serious readers, and less like me. She's more emo than I am! AND! Her name is pronounced like Ann-uh, and not like my name, being On-uh! She's new and improved! And so is the plot!

"Kingdom Hearts?" they said to me, the dorky, overweight emo girl. "What a retarded game. What're you doing writing about it, huh?" They laughed at me and left me, alone with far too many sketch books and notebooks for one girl alone.

You could probably guess, I'm in love with Kingdom Hearts. A lot of the people think I shouldn't be playing it—too much of a kids game. It's not a kid's game though, it's got so many parallels to real life. One word: War.

I really am a bit too old to be playing this game. I'm sixteen. Sixteen! Maybe I should just grow out of it…get back into RPGs again…like the rest of the guys.

Bathroom at school, made sure all the notebooks were in tact. I've got a couple of Kingdom Hearts fanfics tossed into some of these, along with _loads_ of fanart.

Bathroom mirror. I'm not too attractive…to me at least. Overweight, clocking in at one hundred fifty-nine and a half pounds, and only five feet, one inch. Seriously overweight. I should be what? Hundred and five? That's anorexic at my standards. Frizzy, shit-brindle-brown hair, emo flip, pale skin, green eyes…Talk about clashing. Might as well give me brown eyes. There, I'm shit.

I like my eyes though. They stand out. Too bad I'm too much of a reader and writer to need glasses, otherwise, they wouldn't be so hidden.

I turned away from the mirror, and leaned against the sink. I sighed heavily, not wanting to go to geometry. It's a small class, and I get the right help, but I didn't feel like going…and I didn't feel like taking a risk and skipping.

The bathroom's an ugly shade of pink. Pepto Bismol pink. Gross. Talk about gross. My old algebra teacher's piss-yellow room wasn't better. It smelled in there. Couldn't believe just three weeks earlier two kids got expelled for having sex in here. High school's a bitch.

I grab one of my notebooks and flipped through it, reading over notes I have for a story. It'd be a self-insert, where I got pulled into the game…Cliched, but I had an idea. It might have a bit of a Mary-Sue feel to it, but I might be able to work it to my advantage.

Another section of notes. A Zexion based story. Sure be great to meet him…don't call him emo, he might kill you.

The Pepto Bismol color is getting to me. Looks like I've got to head to geometry. Hooray for the volume of cylinders…That was sarcastic.

Field trip…half of the fourteen kid class is gone. The class is set up with science tables instead of desks, allowing four of us to a table. My friends sit behind me, causing me to have to turn if I want to talk to them. Some of the only people worth talking to in the school.

I recently got back from a suspension. The _only_ suspension I've ever had. For "stabbing" a kid with a pen…It was a set up, I tell you, a set up!

"Anna," Stephanie's talking to me. "Anna, hey, come one." I turn, fingering around with my bangs.

"What?" I asked. "Is it life threatening? No, then leave me alone—"

"It's time for lunch."

The cafeteria is like a giant wave of enemies, in a video game, keeping you from the only source of health you can get. It's a constant fight to get to your place. Three lines, all with warriors of different needs.

And I…am obviously something like a mage…because in my eyes…salad equals mana. The whole Mexican food line is for strict warriors—seeing that the entire line is full of meat. And the traditional line is for people with a balance. Stupid balance.

My table is the only one with chairs in the cafeteria—the table for the speds, loners and the people no one likes. Perfect for me, huh? Of course, most of my friends sit at another table. Every so often, I'll go sit with them. Perhaps I should have today, they hate the same people I hate. Nah, my sped friends are the best kind of people to have in this battlefield called a cafeteria.

My bag is holding my seat. I sit there everyday. Tray in hand—shit. That freaking retard Marissa took it. Marissa equals one thing in my cafeteria—the lump. You can't even compare her to something in a video game. She can't talk, she has no comprehension of social interaction…and _obviously_ can't tell that when someone's things are in a seat, that means that the seat is taken! Maybe she could be Kepora Gebora from the Zelda games—completely useless.

I sit down, squeezing in a seat with Stephanie. We only had seven seats since the one broke, and now, my seat was pretty much the one that was gone.

"We need more chairs." I hissed, pouring ranch dressing on my salad. Actually, there were twelve of us and we all had to pretty much share seats.

"Tell me about it." Albert—champion of my Chorus class—said, passing his tomatoes over to me. (He's a fellow mage.) "How about a smaller school?"

My school though was relatively small compared to my old one. There were only about seven hundred students. My old one, had well over four thousand.

"We need to be able to choose who we want to _sit with us_." Daisy grumbled, glaring at Marissa who just happened to not know what the hell we were talking about.

I was eating slowly that day. My stomach was hurting from a mix of grief, hunger, anger and cramps—mind you.

"You okay, Anna?" Albert asked. I shook my head, and slowly chewed on a mouthful of salad.

"I wanna go home." I grumbled.

"Who was it today?" Jessica—a fellow Kingdom Hearts fan—asked.

"The usual's." I sighed. The usual's were a group of jocky Juniors who liked to beat up, bully and harass the emo kids…Which was only me because I had a damn reason to act as emo as I pleased.

"I'm surprised they haven't stopped." Jessica added. "I mean, with the amount of times you've gone to guidance over those guys, and the amount of times they've been suspended—"

"They tore up my picture of Roxas." I sobbed, not wanting to cry. I'd spent a long time drawing Roxas. He was eating sea-salt ice cream too, and I even managed to color it without photoshop.

Jessica coughed. "The one you showed me this morning!" I nodded. "Would you mind if I killed them? That was the one for me, right?" I started to nod. "I'm gonna kill 'em!" Jessica continued her rant about how she was going to kill the Usual's until lunch ended.

French. I hate my teacher. The room is the same from last year, a guillotine from the school's production of Little Shop of Horrors—long before I came here—French books and dictionaries galore…And yet, we have sombreros, piñatas, and Spanish posters everywhere.

What's worse is that my teacher "forgets" we're in French II and starts speaking Spanish. For all you Harry Potter fans, one word: Umbridge. Yes. She looks like a frog.

She doesn't say a single nice word to any of us. Nothing encouraging, nothing good. Heartless bitch. I think I know where Xemnas got it all…but how did something so sexy come out of that—AHH! Get that thought out of my head _NOW_!!

"Anna, ecrive au le tablo." She said, using her terrible French.

"Which problem?" I asked, crossing my arms, hopping that when I got up, she wouldn't tell me that yet another one of my skirts was too short.

I hated pants. Not once all year had I worn a pair of pants—except for gym—and I'd worn skirts the entire time. So far, she cut my skirts down to seven. I had about thirty of them earlier this year, and by December, she'd managed to reduce the number to _seven_!

"Numero dix." She said.

"Did you say 'six' or 'dix'?" I asked, not wanting to deal with her.

"Anna! Ecoute! _DIX_!"

"Oui, je comprende." I growled, getting up and starting for the board.

"ANNA!" I stopped.

"Oui, Madame?" I asked.

"Arms down at your sides!" My arms went flat at my sides, showing that my skirt was about an inch longer than my arm length. "THAT SKIRT'S TOO SHORT!"

"No, it's not." I hissed. "My skirt goes down longer than my arms." The class began murmuring. The only other time I spoke back to the teacher was when I had proven her wrong with a major question on a test and that she had it wrong and the whole class had it right—and when I walked out of the class that same day. "This is about the twelfth time you've told me one of my longer skirts is too short! I have three knee length skirts that I can't wear anymore that you won't let me wear!"

"ANNA! TAISEZ VOUS!"

"Madame Jordan!" I shouted. "You said that in the formal and you're only talking to me—so I say, you're wrong!"

It'd been a really, really bad day.

Home. Home was a two story, 1800s colonial farmhouse with three dogs, three cats and a Mom. Just the eight of us. Mom and I were incredibly close. We didn't talk much to people outside of the two of us. In fact, besides the people I know in school, we don't really talk to anyone.

"Any homework?" Mom asked, as she typed away on her laptop working on another Harry Potter story of hers.

"Not much, a little geometry and I finished my French—" I paused and flopped on the red recliner close to Mom and her computer. "I flipped out on Mrs. Jordan again."

"What for this time?" Mom asked, knowing damn well about my flip outs on Mrs. Jordan.

"Skirt length." I groaned, curling up on the chair, smooshing myself into the cushiness.

"I'm going to call your school again." Mom said, looking up from her computer for the first time. "I've had enough of this teacher."

"I think she has something against me." I replied. "She only focuses on tormenting me!"

"Anna!" Mom announced. "Relax, I'm going to call your school."

I smiled at Mom, hugged her by reaching over her computer and headed up to my room to fiddle around with Kingdom Hearts 2.

I had this problem with my game. I had everything that was required to get the secret ending, but no matter how many times I beat the game, I never got it. I'd seen it plenty of times on Youtube, but not once had I gotten it on my game. For some reason, when I beat the game on Proud mode also, I didn't get the ending either.

It was strange. Every night, I'd come home from school, and beat the game again, and every night, I'd fail.

Except for one night, close to the end of the year. That was how I discovered how I might just be the key to why I couldn't see it.

1.

April twenty-seventh, over a year of attempting to get the secret ending to Kingdom Hearts two. I was on the verge of giving up hope, just like I was in my Pepto Bismol colored bathroom at school.

School actually was an issue. The Usual's were a constant annoyance, and multiple pictures and stories were ruined on their behalf. I'd grown even more distant, even from my friends during school, only talking to anyone during lunch, and that was it. But now, because of a change in semester, new lunches were assigned, and I was alone with only four of my other friends.

"Anna, you need to get out more." Shane—the champion of our school plays-- said during lunch, nudging me with the end of his fork. Shane happens to be a hybrid. Everyday, he gets a different lunch.

"No, I don't." I hissed, threatening to throw a piece of a pear at him. "I go to school and that's enough."

"You're gonna get fat." One of the Usuals happened to be eavesdropping. "I mean, fatt_er_!" He cackled a laugh.

"Brandon." I snapped. "Do you want me to stab you with a pen…_again_?"

"I could get you expelled this time—"

"Fuck off, Brandon!" Keliesha—a warrior— shouted across the table throwing a clump of a tortilla shell at him.

"Dyke." He spat, leaving the table, in hopes to find another sap to dis.

"I really hate that guy." Colleen—a balanced warrior with more mana than HP-- said. "If you hadn't had stabbed him, I would have."

"That guy," Shane said. "Is proof as to why I'm not a Nazi—like you think."

We all had this ongoing joke that Shane was Hitler. Especially because of how many Jewish jokes he attempted to make. The key word is _attempted_. At first, they were really great, but then, as time went on, he got worse and worse, failing with each joke. So, because of each of the never ending Jewish jokes, we had decided he was Hitler…Then again, he could pull off a really good Hitler mustache.

Forth period, final of the day. Block scheduling. If you don't know what that is, it's where all the classes are split up in two semesters, four a day at double the time.

It was Art I. I should be in Art II but the school decided to screw up my future and not give me Art I in my Freshman year. So, I'm stuck in this class full of Freshman bitches who can't shut up, except for three of my friends: Erin, a mage, Rachel, a white mage being a vegetarian, and Cara a black mage, realizing that I'm more along than I ever thought I was. How Mary-Sued can you get?

Just a little bit more. If only I was skinny. Like that's ever going to happen. I have a slow metabolism, and I have a heavy bone structure and apparently, I have a _lot_ of muscle on me. That _must _ be why I can stab people so easily. There was sarcasm in that, thank you very much.

Sketch book is wide open. People are nowhere near me. I don't really mind anymore. No one ever hangs around me in this class. I'm alright with it. No, nothing's wrong with that. Except for Erin, Rachel and Cara. I let them watch me. They like my drawing. They're my friends. Yes, nothing's wrong with only your friends watching you draw. Not people you don't know.

Unless you want people around you.

I went home, the usual time to find Mom on the computer…typical. Mom was still in the middle of writing another Harry Potter story.

Mom smiled at me and asked me how my day was. Typical answer to a typical question.

"I don't want to go to school anymore." I grumbled. "I don't like anyone much anymore."

"Anna!" Mom said in a humorously exasperated tone. "You've only been going there for what, two years?"

"So?" I asked. "I went to the last school for less than a year, then went to another for about seven—the long run, and before that, all the schools were two years or less. We have to keep the pattern."

"No, Anna." Mom said. "You can't start at another school."

"Fine, but don't expect me to be very cheerful when I get home." I mumbled.

"Well, you're starting a new year next year." Mom said. "When are you going in for scheduling?"

"Couple'a weeks I think." I said, yawning, and flopping back in the same red chair I always curled up into. "It's gonna be a weird schedule. I've got to squeeze in two art classes next year, and theater arts _and_ health."

"Don't worry about it." Mom said, getting up from the chair and reaching down to hug me. "Things are going to get better."

"Come _on Sora_!" I shouted, button mashing my Proud Mode game while facing Xemnas—once again. "Don't crap out on me now!"

I smashed at my X button repeatedly until I felt like my thumb felt off, but that wasn't good enough. I kept hitting it until that repetitive cut scene came up and I threw the controller down and flopped back on to my bed, letting the scene play. I'd seen it so many times, I had the actions memorized. Talk about pathetic.

About twenty or so minutes later, after the cut scene and credits, I managed to sit up, to a blank screen.

"What the hell?" I asked. "How long's it been blank?" I checked the TV to see if it was still on and plugged in, as well as the PS2—which were both in tact!

I stared the screen hoping for a sign I finally got the secret ending, but alas, nothing.

I was just about to give up when the screen flickered. I jumped a bit, being a dork, and thinking of the Ring. No, not the movie. The book. The book version is scary. The movie _sucks_.

Nothing for another moment. Then, another flicker. Nothing again, and in a flash, the screen went white.

"What?" I asked, poking the screen. At first, it didn't seem like anything until I noticed my finger slipping through the screen. I yanked my arm back. "Hello?" I called at the computer screen.

"Hello." I hadn't expected it, but a voice called out. "Do you wish to meet people who may appreciate you?" I nodded. "Then give me your hand. Don't be afraid. The door is still open."

I jumped slightly. Okay, I didn't exactly jump as much as I scooted. I was just a normal, okay, not normal, but typical teenage girl…who happened to be obsessed with video games, reading, Harry Potter, vampires and Kingdom Hearts. Nothing wrong there, right? Okay, so maybe there is. But, I mean, look at that show Heroes. Claire's a cheerleader and she gets the power to be invincible. Then there's Hiro, haha, Hiro. Heroes. Get it? He's the bottom of his class in academics and in athletics and he gets the power to bend time. And what would I have gotten if I was in that show? The power to be creepy. My point is that the people who are either great in life or pretty much useless, get to do the cool things. Why does Average, Overweight, Anna get this?

Because this is reality, and Heroes is fiction. In reality the people who deserve awesome things, get awesome things. The people who have it all, may just lose it all. And the people who are at the bottom might rise to the top. I like Heroes, but I just feel like that that show needs an Anna.

But this isn't Heroes. This is my story. Completely different. And I'm in the process of dealing with the most bizarre experience of my life.

"Okay…?" I asked, pulling on a pair of jeans—a rarity for me—and taking off my skirt and shoving it in my bookbag which just happened to be in the shape of Kyo Sohma's cat form from Fruits Basket. I plopped in another few things, part of me thinking I fell asleep while I was playing the game and that I was dreaming the entire thing.

In went my other copy of KH2 (my uncle who knew I loved the game bought me a copy of it for my sixteenth birthday, even though I'd played and beat the game in the time from March twenty-eighth to April first), the first game and Chain of Memories. I grabbed a few of my books and threw them in along with music…I don't go _anywhere_ without music.

"So, what'do I do?" I asked, sitting in front of the TV screen, poking it and watching my finger go through again. I yanked my finger out as I felt something swirl around it, and trust me, the feeling wasn't pleasant. "Can I bring my room with me?" I asked, looking at the giant mess of crap behind me that I hated being parted from.

I liked my room. I had two beds—one full for me, and a single for guests—which each was piled with clothes and crap, and the other with blankets and towels. You could barely see the floor in a few spots, like near my closet, mostly since I had had an episode where I'd emptied most of my closet of the crap in search of an old notebook of mine, and hadn't gotten the time to throw the rest of the junk in.

Papers, notebooks, plushies, games, CDs, blankets and clothes everywhere. It was my home. Unlike the average emo kid, I don't have a black bedroom with black furniture and black shit. It's got rough cut wooden walls, hardwood floor and a white ceiling. I keep my room normal. Just normal.

"Hello?" I asked, waving my hand in front of the screen. I glanced behind me at the clock.

Seven twenty-two.

What? I started playing at seven twenty! I could _never_ beat this game, watch the credits and spend an hour staring at this screen…in _two minutes_.

What the hell was going on?

I reached for the TV screen again, and stopped, thinking it was my imagination, but then continued, sticking my entire hand through the screen.

It was pretty cold, like I'd just shoved my hand in a bucket of ice cream. The texture was similar too. I started to yank my hand out, but it was stuck.

"Oh crap!" I shouted, grabbing my wrist with my other arm and pulling. "Let me go!"

I thought, that perhaps the TV screen solidified again, but my other hand slipped and fell in too. I spent a moment, yanking with both of my arms, wishing that I'd break free.

Ten minutes had to have passed before I decided that maybe if I let my arm go in farther into the TV that maybe I'd be able to break myself free.

But instead of breaking free, something wrapped tightly around my arm and started pulling at me, as I started pulling back.

"_Let_. _Me. Go!_" I shouted, only to find my whole upper body falling through the TV. I was looking at a swirling abyss of white and black with flashes of pink and purple, which were slowly changing to light blue and tan.

A shape began to form, and I found myself landing with a thud on the ground.

It was bright and I ended up having to rub my eyes. I glanced around and saw the shine of an unhidden sun, crystalline water, swaying trees and the smell of sea air.

I was sitting flat on a sandy beach. I stretched out my legs and dug my feet, despite wearing sneakers, into the sand.

"Who're you?" I'd been busy staring at the sand, only to look up, and find a young girl, with dark, mahogany hair, standing over me in a pink and white dress with black ribbons.

I stared up at her blankly, giving myself a minute to determine who I was looking at. "_Kairi_?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I gasped, unburying my feet from the sand and scooting back, kicking sand up into the air, as I flopped on to my back, adding more sand to the air. "Yeah, I'm definitely dreaming."

Kairi—at least I was pretty sure it was Kairi—bent down, and gave me a hand and helped me up. She actually appear like a normal human being, and not all digital like—

"I'm in Space Paranoids, aren't I?" I asked dumbly. "Yeah, this is some trippy dream, y'know." I looked around. "Note to self: Take a one week hiatus from KH2."

Kairi was looking at me with a slightly surprised expression. "This can't be good." She said.

"Huh?" I asked, shocked to hear her speak.

"We've got to get you back." She said, grabbing my arm, and tugging at me, then starting to run.

"Hey! I'm a fat kid! You don't make fat kids run!"

She brought me to a small dock, after pulling me through a small sort of village, and helped me into a small boat. "Sora'd be wanting to see you." She said, starting to row.

"What's the big deal?" I asked. "I'm just dreaming." Kairi didn't say anything.

Instead, she reached forward, and smacked me across the face.

"Ow!" I shouted, rubbing my cheek. "What was that for?"

"There, you're not dreaming." She replied.

"Oh…crap." I replied, stunned, as I took my glasses off and cleaned them. "But I do get hurt in dreams."

"Settle for it," Kairi said. "You're not dreaming."

The small boat docked at a very obviously amateur built dock. Kairi tied the boat around the poles of the dock, grabbed the flat boards and hoisted herself up. I grabbed a lower hanging pole, and grabbed it, trying to climb up. Yes, I was having trouble with it.

Kairi reached down and gave me a hand, and helped me up on to the dock. "Man, you're really out of shape."

"Don't rub it in." I said glumly.

"What's the matter?" Kairi asked. I sighed, and followed her along the dock, as I adjusted my Kyo bag on my back.

"I had a really bad day." I replied. "A bunch of guys in my school kept being mean to me."

"I'm sorry about that." Kairi replied. "Where do you go to school?"

"Have you ever heard of Pennsylvania?" I asked, knowing deep down that she didn't.

"Nope, where's that?" she asked. "Another world?"

"I guess so." I said. "There's not Destiny Island where I'm from, you know—"

"You know the islands name." she said, surprised, her eyes lighting up. "How did you know?"

I grinned, thinking of the best way to explain the situation. "Um, well, to put it simply." I began. "You're a video game character in my world. Everything that you've been through, you, Sora and Riku."

"Video game?" she asked, thinking about it. "With what I've seen, I'm willing to believe anything."

"It's weird." I said, looking at her, and the island behind her. "But, if I'm not dreaming this—then this is real! Kairi, I'm a fangirl of the game the three of you are in, and I've been—"

"—wanting to be here." She replied. "Your heart did it."

I laughed. There was no way that my heart could do something like this. I was just a girl with low-self esteem, a pessimistic attitude, and a weight problem. No matter what it was, I could never have done something this big.

"I'm not strong enough." I said, as the both of us continued walking. "I'm nothing special."

"I thought the same thing—"

"KAIRI!" in the distance, a figure began running for us. It was a boy, hair spiked up, and bouncing as he ran. Like Kairi, he was dressed different, in an almost futuristic outfit.

"What Sora?" she called. "We have a bit of a situation here!" Sora began waving about a sheet of paper.

"I deciphered it." He said, a grin on his face until he noticed me. "Who's she?"

"I'm the situation." I said sarcastically.

"Great!" Sora said strangely enthusiastically. "Kairi, the message is about gatekeepers, for different worlds." Kairi pointed at me.

"She came from another world." She began. "Sora, this could be bad. Xemnas might have—"

"Who cares about Xemnas!" Sora replied, still seemingly happy. " We know how to keep him from—"

"I WAS SUCKED IN THROUGH MY TV!" I shouted. "Okay, see, I was playing the game—you all are characters in a video game in my world—and I was playing it, and I was just trying to get the secret ending, but then, after the credits and stuff, the clock hadn't changed. And the TV went white, and some voice started talking to me, and I GOT SUCKED IN THE TV!" I had flailed my arms about in a frenzy while I explained, and flopped on to the sand, my arms outspread. "Just tell me if being here is a good thing, and if it isn't, send me back, please."

"I don't know," Sora said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Anna." I replied, raising an arm and waving it. "Now please, explain about these gatekeepers."

Sitting with Sora and Kairi on the small outer island, as Sora began to try and find a place to start. He dug into his pocket, and pulled out a rolled up sheet of parchment.

"We got a couple of letters from the King recently." He said, his tone sounding serious. "And one of them, was in this strange code, Riku and I have spent the last few weeks in and outside of schools trying to decipher it, and we managed to get a few things out of it.

"The worlds still are stable. We've only managed to close one of the doors. There's apparently another door in each world, which is supposedly guarded by an individual. No saying yet if these individuals are of light or darkness, but if one of them is out of place, the world order gets all messed up." His eyes darted down to the parchment, which had almost Hebrew letters on it, but they were far too complex to be Hebrew. "Something about there being about fifteen doors. Fifteen key worlds, each one, if the gatekeepers go missing, could cause more destruction to the remaining worlds."

"That's two more than thirteen." I said obviously. "Organization XIII perhaps?"

"That wouldn't make sense." Kairi replied. "We defeated them."

"I know," I said. "But in my world, I've been looking into their story. We all know that they fade back to darkness after being defeated…but what happens after that?"

"That wouldn't make sense." Sora said, analyzing it for a moment. "Who would the other two be then?"

"Who've ya got there!" My inside froze, but the fangirl in me exploded with joy, immediately recognizing the familiar voice. A figure began walking in our direction, tall, bright eyed, dressed in blue and yellow…with _blonde_ hair?

"Omigod!" I shouted, jumping up, pointing furiously, my mouth covered, letting the fangirl in me explode. "You're blonde!"

Riku held up a few strands of his hair and examined them, trying to figure out what I was talking about.

"Huh?" he asked, not sure who I was in the first place. "I've always been blonde." Kairi jumped off the tree trunk and went to greet him, removing his strands of his hair from his fingers, and seemed to explain about how in my world, he was in a video game.

Riku laughed, and rubbed his forehead with his palm, acting as if he knew this was coming. "Where ya from then, _Anna_?" he asked, jumping on top of the tree trunk, and punching me in the arm.

"Ow," I comment, rubbing where he punched me. "Well, have you ever heard of Pennsylvania." There was complete silence. "The United States?" More silence. "North America?" Again, silence. "Never mind, you don't know, but believe me, all of this." I said, indicating to the island. "Is in a video game in my world. All of this is made up. None of this is real." I laughed. "I'm still not sure if I'm really here or not, I'm such a fangirl, I always get confused in my dreams if I'm really somewhere or not."

"Did anything weird happen before you got here?" Riku asked, now having been informed by Kairi of the details.

I thought about it for a moment, and it struck me in the face. "Yes, time stopped. I had started playing the game, trying to get the secret ending, at about seven twenty. Then, after the credits and everything, and after I was all 'Whoa, why is the TV screen black?' and checking out to see if the TV was plugged in, apparently, it was only seven twenty-two!" I explained. "Then, I sat in front of the TV for a bit, and the screen turned white. I thought I was dreaming, so I poked the TV, and my finger when through it. So, I got up and got my bag and filled it with a bunch of stuff, and started fiddling with the TV again, and soon, I heard a voice. And it was the same voice from the first game!

"You know, the one that talked to you in your dream, Sora. The one that told you that you were the Keyblade master! That one, and it pulled me all the way into the TV, and now I'm here!"

"It sounds like something called you here, to me." Riku said, sounding cockier than I thought he'd be. "Any way you could head back?"

"Nope," I said, taking my Kyo bag off of my back and opening it.

There was a loud squawking noise, and a face jumped up at me. The face, belonging to a certain wizard by the name of Donald Duck.

"Donald!" Sora announced happily. "How'd you get here!" The court wizard struggled his way out of my bag and stood in front of Sora, pointing his staff at me accusingly.

"She did it!" he shouted. "She's a Heartless!" I sighed.

"I'm flattered really, that you'd like to assume that I'm part of the negative force against you, but I can assure you, that I am not a Heartless. See?" I listened carefully and heart my heart beat. "Yup, not a Heartless." I smiled. "However, how you ended up in my bag, I'm not sure, maybe I can help, though."

Donald lowered his staff, still looking at me awkwardly. "Where's Goofy?" he asked. "And the King?"

I dug my head into my bag, as Sora explained how he didn't know, and that he wouldn't mind returning Donald back to Disney Castle.

I saw my games, the manga, a few of my drawings, clothes, notebooks, my laptop, and other various things, but stopped when something poked me in the eye. I reached in and grabbed it, and pulled out a small, ornately carved Donald Duck, Kingdom Hearts figurine.

"Found it!" I announce cheerfully. "I think this might be the cause of our problems!"

Kairi snorted, in a humorous sarcastic way. "One of them at least." She stretched out and laid out along the tree trunk.

"A toy?" Donald asked, taking it from my hands and looking at it. "It looks nothing like me!"

I shrugged. "I mean, it would explain why you're here, right?" I asked, hoping I wasn't going to look like an idiot, and have to explain it.

Alas, I was stared at blankly by Sora, Riku and Kairi. "I don't know, maybe it's like a summon stone, and it brings your allies to you, even if they're in another world." I shrugged, and sat myself down against the tree trunk. "You don't have to listen to me, you usually don't in my dreams."

"Well, then send me back!" Donald insisted.

"I can't." I confessed sheepishly. "I don't even know how I activated this thing." Donald sighed, and sat on the ground as well. Riku began to eye me suspiciously, as if I really was Heartless.

"Now, what is this _Pennsylvania_ like?" he asked.

"It's terrible." I groaned. "Every other person is on drugs, and all those people not in that category are insane. I think I'm the only normal person there! I wanted nothing more than to get out of there. That's why I get so wrapped up in fanfics and video games, because I _hate my world_!"

This seemed to alert everyone for a moment.

"Well, that can't be good." Kairi said. "You _hate_ it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." I replied, having it hit me. "No, no, no, you couldn't mean—"

"We could." Sora said. "I think it's best if you stayed here until we can find a way to return you."

"Well," I began. "If this really isn't a dream, I'd kind of like to stay here."

"You wouldn't miss your friends?" Donald asked.

I shrugged. "Well, I'm sure if something happened to them, they'll be alright."

"She sure isn't like you, huh, Sora?" Riku joked to his friend. "You were all 'Oh no, I have to find Riku and Kairi!' and she's just 'Eh, they're okay.'" He laughed, "I'm gonna start heading back, sun's going down."

"Yeah, I think I will too." Sora added. "Donald, you can stay with me if you want, I'll work out a way to get you home, soon."

"You want to stay at my house, Anna?" she asked. "My adoptive parents are used to having people from other worlds showing up and spending the night."

"You sure it's okay?" I asked, watching the three boys walk off towards the dock. "I mean, if I were you, I'd be like, 'Is she trustworthy?' but, if you're sure."

"I'm fine with it." Kairi said. "I'm sure they'll be asking me something along the lines of 'Kairi, what was that giant crash on the island today?'"

"Wait, I crashed?" I asked, closing my bag and following her as we walked along the bridge.

"Yeah, you fell from the sky." She laughed. "You'd think I'd be used to this kind of stuff by now."

"What did it look like?" I asked, stopping in my path, recalling the path that I fell through.

"I don't really know," Kairi said. "It was just a light. And you came crashing down."

"There wasn't anything weird about it?" I asked, now, trying to convince myself that it wasn't a dream, but this actually was happening.

"No," she said. "Were you expecting something strange?" She grinned. "Can't say I blame you. You've shown up at a really odd time. We're just getting back into the groove of things. We just returned yesterday."


	2. Slower Than a Crock Pot

2.

March 23rd: HEY! I finally updated! Like I said: I. Am. Taking. My. Time. Let me warn you now: The majority of the idea of the Ninth Order has been scrapped. Zailyn is no longer a character. In fact, I have taken him, edited him, and made him into an uke boy for a yaoi story I'm writing. Anzo may be the only character I add to this. But don't count on it. I don't plan on using them. I want more than just "Oh, that was good!" reviews. I want to know _why_ it's good. What about characters you like, and _why_ it is better than the first. Don't tell me you liked the first one more. It was horrible.

I tugged on my sneaker, and followed Kairi out the door. A full week here on Destiny Islands, and yet, nothing strange at all had happened. Except for, perhaps, I discovered I had remembered to bring my meds with me. Don't worry, it's nothing serious, just some allergy medication, and…that-time-of-the-month meds.

"Kairi, slow down!" I shouted, as she headed out the door. I'd been staying with Kairi since I arrived, and she insisted on me following her to school everyday, even though I wasn't actually a member of society yet. Kairi was the sensible one out of the kids on Destiny Islands. Unlike Sora and Riku, she believed that just because I was thrown into another world, does not mean I can just forget about school.

"No, you hurry up!" she shouted, waving, halfway down the road at me, in her blue and white uniform. I sighed, and skipped the steps of her house and ran down the road after her. "You're out of shape, and while here," Kairi said, jogging. "I'm going to help you lose some weight."

"Kairi," I complained. This was becoming regular. Every morning, she was having me run after her to school. "Fat kids don't run!"

"Well, they will after I'm through with you." She laughed. "It's a good way to start the day, Anna. Your metabolism gets started, and you've already burnt off breakfast by the time you get there."

"That's coming from someone with a _fast_ metabolism." I replied smugly. "Mine's slower than a crock pot." Something in me, made me regret those words almost immediately, and I smacked myself in the forehead. "Don't listen to that."

"Too late." Kairi said, slightly disturbed by it. "You say things that would make Sora seem like a genius." Apparently, in school, Sora wasn't the brightest. It seemed odd to me, the Keyblade bearer, being a lousy student. In fact, from what I had observed in the past week, he was mostly the class clown who got yelled at for never finishing school work. Kairi had told me that the first words their teacher said when Sora returned was: "Savior of Worlds or not, you still owe about a years worth of assignments!"

Wow, school here is evens stricter than at home.

On the way to school each day, I would begin to describe the various, vivid dreams I had had the night before. Kairi was more interested in my dreams than I thought. My few friends back at home were the types to laugh at them and call me crazy…but Kairi was different.

"Maybe they're trying to tell you something!" she suggested. "Something important. Maybe you can see the future."

I smiled. "I have this feeling we're on the same wave length." I said. "That's what I've been saying since I was in grade school."

"What did you dream about last night?" Kairi asked. "Anything interesting?"

I nodded slightly, then shrugged halfway. "I guess, but I think it might be normal for me being here and all, but," I paused. "I keep dreaming about my home. Maybe I'm just homesick, or afraid something might happen to it now that I'm gone." I laughed, amusing myself with the thought. "I'm not _that_ important though."

"Wait," Kairi replied sternly, as we stopped in front of the school. I looked out of place, being the only one without a uniform. "There might be _something_ with you. There's no explanation for your being here after all."

It may seem mary-sued…but maybe there was some reason I was here…in my dream world. I'd love to discover there was something deep inside me that proved I was more than just an overweight emo girl, with a video game obsession.

I opened my mouth to talk, but I felt something be shoved in. Male laughter, as I saw a green leaf sticking out of my mouth, attached to a yellow form.

"She's never gonna leave now!" came the mocking laughter of Riku, as Sora shoved a piece of the yellow substance into Kairi's mouth.

Paopu fruit…Why they'd want me to stay…I don't know. But…it tasted pretty good. I yanked off the leaves and started chewing. Almost tasted like that artificial tropical flavored bubble tape that lost its flavor after about ten minutes. But, it was that tropical taste, but more realistic.

"I was expecting them to taste rather…odd." I mentioned, seeing Kairi angrily swallow the fruit. She seemed to think that fruit was going to halter my dieting.

"They're supposed to be an aphrodisiac…" Kairi snorted. "Riku's either feeding it to you because he wants to screw your brains out, or because he's being an _ass_ as usual." Riku, who was still amused that I ate the paopu, became smacked in the chest by Kairi's school bag.

The fangirl in me _exploded_….no…That fangirl _spontaneously combusted_. At one point, I was a massive Riku fangirl. As of now, I was rather fond of Zexion. Emo hair is made of sex.

However…if I returned home and told my friends I had sex with Riku, they'd think I was crazy, and probably insist I see better doctors.

A loud bell rang. Kairi and Sora began to walk off, leaving me with Riku. I was older than Sora and Kairi by almost a year, and was in Riku's grade. However, there was a single period where their grade and ours were merged together, and that was how I'd discovered Sora's clownish behaviors.

"Let's get going, future addition to my harem." Riku sniggered, leading me off. I glared at him sharply, and smacked him with my emo bag. My fangirlish opinion didn't change…even though I discovered Riku was a cocky little bastard.

School was a typical schedule…four major classes, one physical education class, and three elective classes. The electives was where I saw Sora and Kairi. All of us had gym together, and one elective, which happened to be an art and theater class.

Riku insisted I sit near him in _every_ class because I was still new, and lacking a uniform. He liked to say it was because he wanted to ensure I wasn't violating the dress code.

My fangirliness is deteriorating with each fleeting second. Riku would continuously nudge me throughout the class, and whisper stupid crap. How was I supposed to keep up with my schoolwork if I couldn't concentrate with someone like Riku annoying me the whole time.

"Class!" the teacher announced after the bell rang. "Because of recent events, the majority of class today will be focused one…"

Riku and I stared at each other momentarily…But not from that "Oh la la, je t'aime!" sort of way…but from a giant wave of interest, which was sparked when the teacher declared:

"The darkness of hearts."

"Riku!" the teacher said sharply. "There has been rumor that during your disappearance, you fell victim to this darkness, yes?"

Riku stiffened up, and braced himself in his chair, as if he was about to release the darkness built up inside of him at that very moment. "What if I refuse to answer that question?" he asked.

"Then it will make the rumor quite clear." The teacher had this strange look in his eyes.

"But," Riku protested. "I'll clear up the answer even if I answer it, wouldn't I?"

The teacher found himself defeated, and turned his attention to me. "What about you, _Anna_." He said, mispronouncing my name.

"Like _Ana_, sir." I muttered.

"Yes, Anna." He corrected. "Everyone in the school is quite curious to your appearance here. Someone new hasn't arrived here in ten years, back when Kairi appeared." His eyes were sinister. "How is you managed to get here."

I shrugged. "I dunno, maybe I'm just on a really bad drug trip." I said sarcastically. "I have no idea how I got here."

"The Heartless attacked her home, didn't they!" a student from the back of the room shouted. Various shouting.

"Maybe she's a Heartless!"

"What if she's the cause of all the worlds disappearing!"

"I bet she's here to destroy us!"

"What if she's one of the opposites of Heartless!"

"What're they called again? Nothings?"

"_Nobodies_, idiot."

"Yeah! I bet she's a Nobody!"

It was surprising how much Sora, Riku and Kairi had told everyone on the island about the goings-on. I felt out of place.

Riku was staring at me, and rolled his eyes. "I'd have been able to tell if you if they were right." He snorted, getting up from his seat. "Listen!" he roared, silencing the debate.

The class turned their attention to Riku and myself in the middle of the room. "Cut the crap!" he snapped. "Okay, you got me, I was sucked into darkness! Believe me, I would _know_ if she was a Nobody or a Heartless! I can _guarantee_ that she isn't!" He had slammed his fists down on the desk behind him, knocking a few pens and pencils off of it. "Sora doesn't know how she got here. Kairi doesn't know how she got here. Anna doesn't know how she got here. Hell, we sent a letter to King Mickey, and _he_ doesn't even know how she got here!" Riku was shaking, just trying to get a point across. "We're working that out, _okay_!"

The class quietly agreed and began to return to their seats, which they had left during the massive chaos of my existence in Destiny Islands.

Riku silently sat back down and looked our teacher who had just backed away during the debate. "Happy now?" he asked, staring at his teacher with almost raging eyes. "I told you. I gave into the darkness."

The teacher apparently changed his schedule, seeing how worked up the class became after the decision. Instead, we just had to write a one page essay on what we thought caused people to give into darkness. Everyone, except for Riku had to write it. The teacher said he didn't feel he needed to know why Riku had done so.

I took a while until lunch where we could meet up with Sora and Kairi. Riku was in a bit of a bad mood after our teacher had forced Riku to confess to submitting to the darkness. He wouldn't talk, and he backed off of the sex jokes.

"What's the matter?" Kairi asked, opening her bento box. Bento seemed to be popular here…Lots of Japanese customs, but English speaking people.

Riku wasn't eating. He rarely ate lunch at school. "Our teacher…" he snorted, sitting cross-legged on the ground, his hand holding his head, as he propped himself up on his elbow.

"The new guy?" Sora asked with a mouth full or rice and carrot, which sprayed a little bit as he talked.

"Yeah." I answered Riku who wasn't in a talking mood. "He _really_ pissed off Riku. Pressed him into admitting he gave into darkness. He caused the whole class to have an argument about why I was here." I sighed and pouted, holding my emo bag in my lap as I munched on a rice cake. "Just about _everyone_ thinks I'm a Heartless or a Nobody."

"That's to be expected." Kairi warned, a bit too late for me. "You're the first person to arrive since me."

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to speak in my own defense, but Riku interjected.

"I noticed something…" he muttered. "I hope I'm wrong. I don't want to relive this…" There was a dramatic, almost cinematic pause. "But that man was Ansem…The fake one."


	3. I Stared At it Like Gollum And the Ring

Chapter 3:

I've gotten the perfect review from the last chapter, so I'm gonna start working on this some more. I've decided there's going to be a little bit of implied AxelxAnna stuff again…but nothing big. Just a little unresolved tension. I'm really proud of this version. It's doing better two chapters in than the original did. I'm happy. Once again: No reviews saying "OMG UPDATE SOON" or "THAT WAS AWESOME" I want to know why I should update or why it's awesome. –LessThanThree-

I stared at the clock…Come on, three more minutes…Three more minutes…Riku, shut up, I don't want to stay after thanks to you.

He was being so dramatic about our teacher being Ansem or whatever, but he continued to be a complete jackass. I was right on the edge of screaming at him and dropkicking him, but I'd save that.

Two minutes…our math teacher was talking about homework. Page ninety-seven, eleven through thirty-three, it's on the Pythagorean Theorem, got it. Elbowing in the stomach from Riku, he's passing me a note.

I take the small slip of paper…I look at Riku's face, it's deathly serious, as if something horrible is about to happen…

I open the paper…

'_Your fly's open_.' It read, causing me to crumple it and toss it aside. I glared at him and flipped him off under the table, and grabbed my books and sat them in my lap.

One minute…

Riku passed me another note, this time with a stupid grin on his face. I take it, prepared to whip it at my head…

'_Stay after.'_ It read. I looked at Riku and start to ask why…But…

_RIIIIING!_

I nearly fell from my chair and looked at Riku who casually got out of his seat and pushed it in.

"Why?" I asked, grabbing my books.

"Nothing serious, Sora's staying too, I talked to him before we came in from lunch." He said nonchalantly, as he headed for the door. His eyes darted around as I followed him. I began to step through the doorway, but Riku grabbed me by the back of the shirt and yanked me into one of the closets in the classroom. He put his finger to his lips telling me to not talk…or ask questions in my case. I don't think his tiny brain could comprehend any questions outside of school hours.

Silently, he began to crack open the door, allowing a small sliver of light to shine into the small compartment. I peeked out with him through the slit and looked into the room. There was nothing, aside from the teacher and the empty tables and chairs in the room. We sat in the closet in silence until the light switch in the room went out, and we saw the teacher walk out of the room. Another minute or so, and then, Riku nearly kicked open the door. "Good." He said confidently. "C'mon, it's safe, we can find Sora now."

I stumbled out of the closet, and fixed my clothes a bit, being the girl I am. Riku snorted when he looked at me.

"Damn, you are pretty fat." He said bluntly. I stuck my tongue out at him and slowly extended my middle finger at him.

"And you've got OCD when it comes to darkness." I retorted, knowing I could probably stop Riku from being mean to me right there. "What're we doing?"

"We need to get back into our history room." Riku explained, crouching down near the door and pressing his face against the keyhole as he peered into the hallway. "We're good for right now." Quietly, he twisted the handle of the door and opened it, stepping out and glancing down the hallways in both directions. "C'mon!" he began to sprint down the left hallway. Why is it that people like to make fat kids run? We jiggle enough when we walk!

But yes, even though, I am a fat kid…or for the most part, a fat kid, I ran after Riku, watching him skid a bit as he missed the corner to turn. The hallways were brown, and disgusting looking, kind of like the color of mud after a really bad rainstorm, when it gets clumped together. The school seemed old and out of place on the island, the island needed something more cheery for a school…Not this mess of a place.

I stopped, as Riku held out his hand, he lowered himself down towards the ground and placed his ear over the keyhole. Even while out from other worlds, it seemed keyholes were sacred here. They weren't like normal keyholes, the modern ones, instead, they were skeleton keyholes, like the Keyblade. Riku tugged on the door lightly, and swore. It was locked.

"Where the hell's Sora when you need him?" he muttered. "He's supposed to meet us here." He yanked on the door again, still it wouldn't budge. Another yank, no budge. Riku was at the point where he was practically wrestling with the door. I tapped Riku on the shoulder. "What!?" he shouted, smacking my hand away.

"I'm gonna look for Sora." I muttered. "Because obviously, he's not going to appear by attacking the door." Riku glowered at me, not pleased that I was putting his _expertise_ to the test. "It's not a big school, he should be in here somewhere." Riku rolled his eyes and waved his hand at me, motioning that it was alright for me to go off.

"Just don't get knocked out, I don't want to drag a fat kid out of here!" he shouted. I had never hated being overweight so much.

The appearance of the school didn't change, not in the slightest. All brown, all decrepit, all…depressing. I swear, Xemnas, if you had wanted hearts, you should've come to this school! Anyone could lose their heart here from the…monotony! I'm going crazy here, and I haven't even been here all that long! Dammit Sora, where the hell are you?

I stood in the middle of a sort of crossroads in the school, and sat down on the floor. I hadn't been to this part of the school before. Perhaps it was the branch to the younger grades of the school…Eh, I dunno.

I sat with my legs crossed in the middle of the room. "Riku!" I shouted, knowing that I hadn't been too far from him. "Riku where do these halls lead?" There was no response. "What an ass." I said aloud. He was probably doing this to scare me or something. Typical.

I got up, and yanked the bottom of my shirt down and started back down the hallway I came from. "Riku?" I called, passing our history room, and peering inside through the etched glass, assuming he might have opened it. There wasn't any movement inside, but nonetheless, I grasped the door handle and twisted it open.

It was unlocked. "Riku." I snorted, stepping inside, my arms crossed. "Riku, get out here, it's not funny." I walked into the room, looking under each of the desks, opening the closet, and checking at our teacher's desk. He wasn't anywhere. "Riku!" I shouted, as I opened the drawers of our teachers desk, stupidly thinking that he could possibly be able to fit inside one of these teeny little drawers.

I sighed, and sat at the chair in the desk, opening a bottom drawer. It was strangely empty, too. Most teachers have all their drawers filled to the top, trying to cram whatever they could into it. But this one was empty.

I ran my fingers along the side of the drawer, tapping the sides, and tapping the bottom. I had seen my friends do this when I was little, their children's desks usually had hidden compartments made. And it seemed as if this teacher did too.

There was a good four inches of drawer beneath the bottom plate of the drawer. Our teacher had something hidden…and if it was food, or something, I would've been annoyed. It'd be awesome if our teacher was hiding something really secretive…like secrecy secretive. I opened another drawer…strangely enough, finding a screwdriver, which I began to loosen the screws in the drawer, one by one. I had expected to have been caught by now…but I hadn't been.

I unscrewed the last screw, and felt the plate sink a bit. I shoved the screw driver back into its drawer. I yanked on the metal plate from within the desk, trying to loosen it some more. But for a weak, fat kid, it was loosening up pretty easily.

The plate broke free, and within the darkened cavity of this drawer, sat at jar, a tightly sealed jar, within it, a glowing, red violent shape. An unmistakable shape. It was a heart, glowing and throbbing near the opening of the jar, as if it was trying to escape.

A strange feeling began to swell inside me, as I reached within the desk cavity and remove the jar. I stared at is, like Gollum had stared at the One Ring, and I wondered what would happen if I released the heart.

"_It'd join Kingdom Hearts, remember_?" I turned, holding the jar tightly to my chest, the crap practically scared out of me. The voice came from nowhere. I started to stand, coveting the jar to myself, and carefully closed the drawer. There was utter silence in the room aside from the light tapping of my shoes.

I leaned against the desk once I got around it, refusing the let the jar go. I knew I was stealing…but why did our teacher have a heart…in a jar, in the first place?

I started to walk again, but I found myself practically frozen. I stared at the floor, watching the shadows from the desk, as they began to conform into the shapes of…I swallowed hard.

"_They're Heartless, I thought you knew_." I heard the voice again. "_They want that heart_."

"Shut up!" I shouted frantically, as I started to escape the room, feeling as if time had slowed me down. The Shadow Heartless had fully taken shape.

"_You might want to put it back, y'know_." Came the voice again. I yelled at it to shut up again, as I escaped the room. I looked back, and slammed the door.

I could see one of the closet doors in the room slam open, shadows pouring out of it. And now, even that the door was closed, Shadows were slithering beneath the door.

I began to ran, faster than a fat kid should ever run, the jar with the heart still in my arms. "RIKU!" I shouted. "SORA! KAIRI!" The shadows were faster than I thought, practically right behind me…Or perhaps, I was still in slow motion.

"_I don't think they can hear ya_." Came the voice again. I screamed in frustration.

"Go away!" I shouted. "Just go away!" I found myself in the crossroads again, wondering to myself which way I should go. It seemed as if no matter where I turned, I'd be stuck.

A part of me felt like I was in Spirited Away, and I was Chihiro, trying to get her parents and escape the town before the bathhouse. But I wasn't in Spirited Away, and the only equivalent I had to Haku was this annoying voice in the air that seemed to be mocking me and my inability to out run Heartless.

But the voice was right…They were after the heart. It was now understandable why it was hidden in the desk…But not why our teacher had it in the first place.

I stared at the three on coming roads, and found myself debating which way. "Gah!" I shouted crazily, thinking of Chain of Memories. "Which one is the Road to Light!" I remember thinking of that final scene in Reverse/Rebirth with Riku being given the options of Light and Darkness, and him taking the road to Twilight. I decided to take the hallway to my right. I mean, light, right, they rhyme.

"_Good Girl_, _Maybe you're not so useless after all_." The voice continued as I found myself running at the doors to the outside.

"SHUT UP!" I shouted at the voice as I came outside, and practically collapsed on the ground. I still held the jar in my arms, tightly, not letting it go.

"Anna, are you all right?" I looked up, looking at Sora and Kairi, both of them looking slightly perplexed. "Riku just went in to look for you."

I was breathing heavily and held out the jar. "I found this." I panted. "In our history teacher's desk." I continued to pant. "There're Heartless, in the school."

We all sat on the smaller island, examining the jar with the heart inside, Riku having had joined us after I left the school a few minutes later, confirming what I had said.

"So, someone was talking to you the whole time?" Kairi asked. "It sounds like what happened when I met Roxas."

"Well…" I muttered. "I never really spoke back, he, yeah, I know it was a guy, kept poking fun at what I was doing."

"So, you never saw anyone?" Sora asked. "You were alone?" I nodded. "But where'd Riku go?"

"I went to look for her." He answered. "I started calling for her, but she didn't answer, so I went looking."

"And then I came back and the door was open—" I added.

"I hadn't opened it either."

"I've left my Keyblade charm at home lately." Sora said. I laughed a little inside, thinking of Card Captor Sakura. "So, it wasn't me."

"And I went in the room, and I checked everywhere for Riku, and he wasn't there, so…" I paused. "I snooped in our teachers desk, and I found that the drawer was like…hollowed out or something, and I don't know why, but I found a screw driver, and I opened the bottom up and there was this _jar_ with a _heart_!" I waved my arms about a bit. "Then the voice started and then, there were Heartless!"

"But…" Sora said, contemplating. "Why did your teacher have a heart in a jar, anyways?"

"Maybe he's a Nobody." Kairi suggested. "But he's keeping it."

Riku shrugged a bit. "Might explain why he's so bent on the darkness."

"I'm ruling out the possibility that he's Ansem." I mentioned. "If he was a reincarnate of Ansem, I think we would have heard him shout something along the lines of 'SUBMIT!'" I made the awkward hand gesture to go along with the chant. There was, fortunately a laugh from the others, but the laughing died as we all found ourselves, yet again, confused at the presence of the heart.

"Wait…" Sora muttered. "The Heartless should have known there was a heart in the school in the first place if they had sort of collected there before…Why couldn't they have gotten into the desk? They have sharp claws and everything, and they should have been able to."

Kairi reached forward and tapped on to the jar. "I wonder whose heart it is." She said. "If the teacher isn't a Nobody, whose is it?" There was silence, until Riku got up, thoroughly annoyed.

"That's it!" he shouted. "Everything was great until _you_ showed up!" He held out his arm, summoning Way To the Dawn. "Just go home, all right? We don't want you hear! I've had enough to do with the darkness for one lifetime and I'm not going back!"

"I'm not doing anything!" I shouted. "You honestly thing this is all my fault? You think that this _fat_ girl from another world has any special powers that could send this world hurling back into the Darkness? I can't fight, I can't use magic, I can't use a Keyblade. The only thing I can do, is play this freakin' game, and analyze. Nothing more than that. I'd fight if I could, but my world hasn't been invaded by Heartless yet, and I've never had the need to."

Riku allowed Way To the Dawn to vanish and he sat back down. "Let's get this straight: I won't trust you until I _know_ that you're not the cause for this." He said darkly. "And if you are, it's a fight to the death."

"Riku!" Sora snapped. "Cut it out, it's not her fault. She said so herself, she doesn't know how she got here. It's not like she decided 'Hey, I'm gonna teleport to another world and annoy Riku!' one morning and did it, she—" Sora looked at me. "What was it you said happened again?"

"I got sucked in through my TV." I answered, staring at the heart like I had stared at it in the class room. "Why don't we release it?"

"No." Sora said. "We can't let Kingdom Hearts be recreated; it's one of the last things we want."

"But what if we need to?" I replied. "What if its destruction caused all this? What if it needs to resurrected? What if that moon, is _really_ the only thing keeping the worlds balanced? It's dividing Light and Darkness, it's obvious, there's no way, that Darkness can ever be extinguished." I thought momentarily. "Darkness is like Axel. It's always been there, it may hate you sometimes and, at other times, it's been on our sides, it's even wanted to be our friend, but then, when it finally seems to die, it keeps going."

Sora had a slightly confused expression, and I wondered if Roxas understood what I meant, seeing as though they had always been friends, it seemed reasonable.

I shook my head, slightly embarrassed about my little, existential episode. "I told you all ready." I muttered. "The only things I'm good at are analyzing things, and video games."

Sora smiled a bit at me, as did Kairi, and though Riku was trying to cover it with his bleach blonde hair, I saw him smiling too. "Anna, I think you might have just helped us out."

Sora's Keyblade appeared, seeing as how he had gotten the charm for it before we headed over to the island. In a moment or two, Kairi summoned hers, and Riku called forth Way To the Dawn. The three Keyblade masters raised the ends of their weapons above the jar, a stream of white light shining down through the crevice they created together, from the sun, to the jar.

However, as it seemed the jar would open, and release the captive heart, the jar toppled over, and the heart within bobbed around. The three Keyblade Masters let their weapons vanish and they stared at the jar, watching the heart move about.

The four of us all looked at one another. "They didn't work." I said obviously. "Why didn't they work?"

There was silence from us all. And this, was where I began to realize, that it was a _bad_…_really bad_ thing that I was here…And I needed to get home: Fast.


End file.
